The Reason Why Bill Belichick Cuts the Sleeves on His Hoodies
It's early June, we're all going crazy quarantining or working at home, and there are almost no live sports or championship races to occupy our minds during leisure time, which is why this is a popular headline this week: A story about Bill Belichick's clothing style and why he began cutting the sleeves off his hoodies.
Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston got the scoop on when the customized hoodie originated in Belichick's closet.
In the fall of 2005, Belichick walked into the team’s equipment room and asked the late Don Brocher for a pair of scissors. They were produced.
Belichick laid the gray sweatshirt on a table — it wasn’t a hoodie, by the way — and lopped off both arms just below the elbow.
Why you doing that? He was asked.
“My arms are too short,” he replied.
Did he want the sweatshirts made differently?
“No.”
Belichick would be his own tailor.
Curran also found some interesting statistics behind the hoodie, which included a 65-26 overall record when Belichick wears cut sleeves on his hoodie or plain sweatshirts, and three Super Bowl losses and a 1-2 record in Conference Championships with cut sleeves.
I am a natural-born skeptic. I tend to give the experts the benefit of the doubt and Belichick is clearly an NFL expert, but I have to disagree with the mantra "In Bill We Trust" on this one and it isn't on fashion grounds.
Comfort, fashion rationality and wardrobe economy has its place, and that place shouldn't involve losing games.
Let Tom Brady go to Tampa and be a Buc even though he has something left in the tank. Trust in Jarrett Stidham instead of signing Cam Newton, Teddy Bridgewater or even Andy Dalton. Don't add an impact wide receiver to go alongside Julian Edelman before the decline hits. Don't sign a top-tier tight end like Austin Hooper even though it's a core element of how New England's offense exploits matchups. But please, Bill. Stop. Cutting. The. Sleeves.
